REAPGATECluster - Junior Thinkers Bones 2014

A group of clever thinkers from Central Southland met “Mr Bones” the human skeleton. We used the Six Thinking Hats to help us think about bones.

White hat
Six Thinking Hats for wiki.009.jpg

We looked closely at “Mr Bones.”
We found out interesting facts, like
• There are 206 bones in an adult’s body. There are about 300 when we are babies, but they grow together.
• The smallest bone is called the stirrup and it’s in your ear.
• There’s another bone in your ear; it’s a hammer.
• The longest bone is called a femur. It’s your big leg bone.

• Your nose and ear lobes are made of cartilage not bone, so they aren’t on a skeleton.
• Your skull protects your brain. You can see the joins where the parts of the skull have grown together. These joins are called sutures.
• A baby’s skull has a soft part called the fontanelle. It lets the brain grow.
• Your ribs make a cage around your lungs and heart. You’ve got 12 pairs of ribs.
• There are lots of bones in your wrist.
• Your spinal cord carries messages from your brain to parts of your body and back again. It’s inside your vertebra or spine.
• Your red blood cells get made in your bones.

Black Hat
Six Thinking Hats for wiki.012.jpg

We talked about the dangers for bones and what doctors do to look after bones. We all knew someone who has had a broken bone.

We studied x-rays of bones and saw where doctors had put pins in to help the bones mend again.

We looked at a cast made of soft padding on the inside and fibreglass on the outside. Casts help keep bones in place until they mend.

We acted out what happens when a bone breaks. It’s amazing how the new bone tissue comes around the break in the bone and builds it up in a lump until it is healed and strong again. Then the lump goes away. Incredible!